Calls for Accountability and Gender Equality at World AIDS Day Event in New York City

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot, AIDS activist Lynn Murchison and Hunger Project President Joan Holmes spoke last night in New York at an event for World AIDS Day.

Joan took the opportunity to endorse the recent recommendation of the Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence for the creation of a new, unified and ambitiously funded agency for gender equality and women’s empowerment. (see full text or listen to the recordings at right).

(Earlier this year, Joan issued a call to action for people to urge the Secretary-General to have greater gender equality in the makeup of the Panel to which hundreds of our constituents joined similar voices from around the world. People’s voices were certainly heard!)

The event was chaired by Rev. Kevin Bean and attended by approximately 400 people. It was organized by The Hunger Project, UNAIDS and St. Bartholomew’s Church and co-sponsored by African Regional Youth Initiative, EngenderHealth, The Interfaith Center of New York, Islamic Cultural Center of New York, MaAfrika Tikkun, Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development, Population Council, World Council of Churches and World Council of Conservative Synagogues. Entertainment was provided by PG and Love Choir and Salah.

Highlights of the addresses

Click on photo or name to link to the full text of the address.

Secretary General Kofi Annan: “Accountability  –  the theme of this World AIDS Day  –  requires every President and Prime Minister, every parliamentarian and politician, to decide and declare that ‘AIDS stops with me.’ But accountability applies not only to those who hold positions of power. It also applies to all of us… It requires fathers, husbands, sons and brothers to support and affirm the rights of women. It requires teachers to nurture the dreams and aspirations of girls. It requires men to help ensure that other men assume their responsibility  –  and understand that real manhood means protecting others from risk. And it requires every one of us to help bring AIDS out of the shadows, and spread the message that silence is death. I will soon be stepping down as Secretary-General of the United Nations. But as long as I have strength, I will keep spreading that message.”

Dr. Peter Piot: “The latest global AIDS figures give us reason for concern and for some hope. The number of new infections rose to 4.3 million this year, at the same time 2.9 million people died of AIDS – related illnesses. Multi – drug and extremely drug resistant tuberculosis highlight new challenges in our collective response. The issue of women and girls within the AIDS epidemic needs continued and increased attention. At the same time there is evidence of positive trends in young people's sexual behaviours – increased use of condoms, delay of sexual debut, and fewer sexual partners. Declines in HIV prevalence among young people between 2000 and 2005 are evident in several countries.”

Lynn Murchison, representing people living with HIV/AIDS. “The main reason I came here tonight was because I have the ability to stand up on this stage and speak for my community members who are still silenced by this disease. I can stand here without fear of how the social repercussions will impact my life. Perhaps tomorrow there will be a bit of gossip about my disclosure tonight, but I’m willing to take that risk in order to remind each and every one of us that there is still a long way to go and we have a heck of a lot of work to do.”

Joan Holmes. “Women’s low status is not only a moral disgrace and the most notable failure of humankind – it is also the primary cause of the persistence of hunger, a significant factor in abject poverty, and it fuels the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. Until we recognize this – until we change this – we will continue to battle these insidious conditions with little or no success. Therefore I endorse the recommendation of the Secretary – General’s High – level Panel to create the world’s first full – fledged international agency for women. When it is implemented and when it is funded as recommended, this new agency will play a leadership role in elevating the status of women and in solving humanity’s most intractable problems.”